Xingyue, is Xiaokai also considered Kai?

Actually, she was just wondering how Novia was doing living elsewhere. After all, as soon as she entered Rome, the current emperor sent someone to take her to the palace, which left Ritsuka a little confused and wondering why this was happening.

To be honest, Ritsuka really wanted to go out for a stroll, but she also knew that wandering around the palace in this era would likely result in punishment if she were discovered.

Despite saying that, the orange-haired girl couldn't resist running out in a flash. And since there was no one guarding the entrance, she was able to wander around the Roman palace without any trouble. Then, quite by chance, she saw a blonde girl running hurriedly in a certain direction.

Having nothing better to do and unable to find Novia's residence, Ritsuka subconsciously followed the footsteps of the unknown girl.

Afterwards, Ritsuka saw that the place the blonde girl arrived at was Locusta, who had led them into the palace. Moreover, the blonde girl seemed to be of high status, and Locusta behaved quite politely...

For some reason, Ritsuka also felt a strong urge to go in and take a look, even though she thought it was not a good thing to break into someone else's room without permission, but she couldn't help herself.

Thinking about Locusta's fondness for mushrooms during lunch, she gently tossed the mushrooms she had picked up on the way to Rome onto the ground, enticing the green-haired girl to pick them up... This made Ritsuka feel like she was repeating a Tom and Jerry storyline, but it was obvious that the trick was very effective.

After Locusta had mostly left, the orange-haired girl dashed inside, only to discover it was actually a bathhouse. She noticed that although it was dimly lit, someone was indeed taking a bath. But just as she was about to sneak out, someone called out to her—

"Trespassing in the palace is a capital offense."

"……what?"

This made Ritsuka subconsciously turn her head. For some reason, she felt that the previous blurriness had become weaker, and she could make out the figures inside more clearly.

It seems to be a large...small?

The orange-haired girl also heard a soft "Huh?" in addition to the sound of "Death sentence," which seemed to be an expression of disbelief at the situation before her.

"I'm so sorry, I'll get right back..."

"Hahaha, it's alright, it's alright. Chaldeans, I can... I am with the Emperor of the Roman Empire, the second Pope of the Church, His Majesty Nero. We already knew your intentions long ago, so there's no need to worry about it."

"Yes."

Now Ritsuka understands the source of the voices. The one who spoke in a long sentence seems to be Nero's subordinate, the small figure, while the large one is Emperor Nero... who was also the disciple of the first Pope Novia.

"Chaldea will be eternally grateful for this..."

Having racked her brains but not knowing what to say, Ritsuka could only utter this sentence before falling into a long-lost silence.

"Waaaaah... Wait, don't go yet, Fujimaru Ritsuka, aren't you curious about my identity as someone who stays by Emperor Nero's side?"

The words spoken again broke through the orange-haired girl's composure as she prepared to leave, causing her to subconsciously raise her head, ignoring the faint panting in her voice, and fall into deep thought.

The person who could bathe with both the Roman Emperor and the second Pope, and whose voice sounded like a little girl... could she be a younger sister or something?

Did Emperor Nero have a sister? This is clearly a troublesome question for Ritsuka, a high school senior who doesn't take history classes very seriously.

However, this doubt was quickly resolved, as the voice hidden in the haze continued.

"Actually, I'm an illegitimate child~ Nero and my teacher's illegitimate child, so this is my father? Who is he, and what's his name? I'm really curious..."

what? !

Upon hearing this news, Ritsuka didn't know how she got back to the room that had been assigned to her; she felt as if she had returned in a daze.

Although she understood that historical figures were not simply black and white, this news still ignited her gossip-loving spirit.

Nero's teacher was none other than the first pope? The fact that these two had this kind of relationship is truly astonishing… and such a thing would be forbidden in both modern and ancient times… I never imagined these two popes would…

"Fortunately, the Novia consultant is just someone with the same name; she won't do anything reckless..."

But for some reason, Ritsuka, who was lying on the bed, sighed.

Then, belatedly, she realized that the voices of the two women in the bath seemed a bit strange, but she assumed it was just from taking a bath and then fell into a deep sleep.

……

In the great hall of Alexandria, the Roman province of Egypt, where the banner of 'Osiris' had been raised in rebellion, three people were seated.

The three were summoned servants: the young conqueror Alexander the Great, Alexander the Great II who had obtained the power of Zhuge Liang of China, and Pharaoh Ptolemy.

"Our Master is probably using me to do something for His Highness's sake."

"Your Highness... Ptolemy, are you referring to my future son, the last king of the Arjid dynasty?"

Hearing Ptolemy's murmurs, Alexander Lily asked with great interest.

"Forgive my trepidation, Your Majesty..."

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. What's the future to me is the past to you and the present, just like—"

Alexander laughed, glancing at the Second Prince, who was smoking in an inappropriate place with his long hair still blowing in the wind. "My teacher now is this Lord Zhuge, not Aristotle."

The red-haired boy continued.

"So let's continue."

"...His Highness the Fourth Prince bears a resemblance to you, Your Majesty. He is a language genius who can understand anything without needing anyone to teach him to read and write, just like you, Your Majesty. Therefore, in my eyes—"

The aged Ptolemy seemed hesitant to speak, as if he couldn't bring himself to say what he wanted to say to the red-haired boy from Alexander.

“I remember you, Ptolemy, were famous during the Wars of the Diadochi for stealing Iskandar’s body. This was one of the reasons why the Wars of the Diadochi went to a quagmire. Ptolemy took Iskandar’s body, which was supposed to be sent to Macedonia, and buried him in Alexandria, which he ruled.”

Suddenly, the Second Prince, who had been smoking to the side, walked over and said this.

"No wonder you look like this, Ptolemy."

Alexander looked enlightened. "But it doesn't matter, there must be a reason, right?"

"...As this Lord Zhuge said, after I seized your remains, I buried them here and organized my own priesthood, regarding you as the son of Amun-Ra, the chief god of Egypt. I merged the Greek and Egyptian pantheons, placing you at the center, making you both the son of Zeus and the son of Ra, the center of mythology."

"what?"

Alexander was bewildered.

This is not as simple as deifying oneself.

To do this while the Age of Gods existed, in a sense, isn't this creating a completely new myth centered on oneself?

"Wait, wait a minute, teacher, did Ptolemy really do that kind of thing?"

"He actually did it."

The Second King said calmly, “In later generations, although Ptolemy had many great achievements, it was this fusion of culture and religion that left a decisive influence on posterity. Iskandar’s conquests initiated the fusion of Greek and Eastern cultures, which is the so-called Hellenism. Ptolemy left an indelible mark on history. I can even assert that without him, the world we live in now would be completely different.”

These words slid through Alexander's ears.

He already knew that his future Iskandar's conquest would become the catalyst connecting Western and Eastern mythology, leading to the corruption of many gods.

However, the work done by this now-friend and future subordinate, Ptolemy, far exceeded his own expectations.

"That's too kind, Lord Zhuge. I only acted for my own purposes."

Ptolemy looked up at the blue sky and said with emotion, "The Atlas Court, the Mountain Court, and the Wandering Sea, together with me, used the human world and mythology itself to prepare a super-level grand ritual magic. Although our experiments were the same, we still kept some key points from each other. After all, it is not an exaggeration to describe us as having ulterior motives. At that time, I was no longer the Ptolemy who followed you, my king, to the End of the Sea. Only Eumenes has always maintained his true self."

"...So it is said that no one dared to call himself king while Eumenes was alive, but after his death, he was surrounded by disloyal and unjust people, right?"

Eumenes was the secretary of the conqueror king and continued to support the legitimate royal family after his death. At that time, no one dared to claim the title of king, but because he was not Macedonian, he was despised by his subordinates and generals. Thus, this man who devoted himself to the continuation of Alexander's empire was eventually defeated by the defection of his own soldiers.

After his betrayal and death, all the governors of Alexander's empire who had previously claimed to uphold the throne of Alexander's son in the name of the nation and the king abandoned their banners without exception, openly revealing their true intentions and declaring themselves kings.

"Hehe, I don't deny it."

As a follower, one is essentially a 'part' of the original. If the young Ptolemy were to appear alone, he would surely berate his older self in front of Alexander for being so disloyal and unjust, and would also call the young Alexander a 'brat' without any restraint. However, time changes a person. If facing the grown-up conqueror, Pharaoh Ptolemy would also call him a 'brat,' but he could not do so to the young Alexander.

This is probably why, despite being able to appear in both states, he only appeared as the elderly Pharaoh to face the young Alexander.

Ptolemy, during the reign of the Pharaohs, was undoubtedly the greatest mythologist in human history. He seized the body of the conqueror king for political purposes, while the body of Alexander IV was entirely for personal gain. Both father and son had their own bodies, so why did they choose Alexander IV as the subject of their experiment?

Since the Conqueror King had already become a god etched into the planet, he could only settle for using Alexander IV, who was a 'blank' figure for the planet, as a model to create a myth from scratch.

That was a true age of gods, and his actions were truly influential. The three magicians from the East and West also needed Alexander IV's cultural influence.

"Just like Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Japan."

The Second continued calmly, “Ptolemy’s work was undoubtedly the foundation of the later widely circulated Romance of Alexandria, which describes Iskandar’s underwater voyage and the Alexandrian poetry, which, according to the description, is close to the existence of the mythical chief god, and the library in this city called Alexandria is said to be the place where all the wisdom and stories of the world are gathered.”

"So the Master's purpose in summoning me is merely to leverage the historical and cultural influence I created."

"If it were the King of Conquerors, he probably wouldn't approve of the Master's actions."

Alexander II gently shook his head. "But you are different. You are the embodiment of possibility, Alexander."

“I also understand that the end of human history means that my own potential will be blocked, so I should refuse the Master.”

Alexander laughed and said, "But the Master's actions remind me of Socrates when I first went on the expedition. Of course, he was already crazy back then. It's really interesting, whether it's the Master or Socrates."

"...I don't know how our Master learned of our plan, but it seems that all the success of this grand magic has been taken away now."

Ptolemy narrowed his eyes slightly.

A hero who gathers all the wisdom of the world and even recreates mythology.

Perhaps he is worthy of being called the "King of Stories".

Creating a design from scratch that incorporates Greek and Egyptian elements, as well as the Persian sphere and surrounding regions, along with a fusion of myths and customs, would, once successful, create a vast void that would require a 'blank' person to inherit. But just like memory saturation, the sheer volume of information could overwhelm a person's life. And what form would this vast void between the real and the virtual take?

Was the entity that inherited this power a 'story' or the real person? Nobody can say for sure.

And the Master who summoned them to appear on this land now desires to become such an existence.

The divine bodies of Osiris, Set, Typhon, Sun Wukong's fragments, and Ōkuninushi's divine body, among others, encompass parts of the gods in a sense, which could be considered as including both the Eastern and Western worlds. However, such a chaotic collection would greatly increase the likelihood of failure.

Therefore, Ptolemy believed that his master was truly decisive, abandoning many foreign deities and choosing Egypt, an ancient pantheon that, under his influence, had become aligned with the Greek and Roman gods on this land.

So what if the Age of Gods has ended? The foundation has already been laid.

So what if he himself had no historical beliefs? The young Alexander had already been summoned as a medium, and could even be considered a better vessel than Alexander IV.

So what if the culture of history hasn't yet begun to influence other regions? Those things have already been decisively abandoned.

So what if Alexander's romances weren't widely known? In Egypt, they no longer needed to be.

Therefore, Ptolemy was confident that his newly compiled mythology would be born in the first century after the end of the Age of Gods.

Summoning himself, the young king, the master of the three, will soon become the one who encompasses all of Egypt, and in the context of a unified vision between Egypt and Greece, he will surpass the Greek god Zeus and the Egyptian god Ra, who failed to become in mythology.

The dragon and the bull are one, all gods are one, mythology is one—meaning it encompasses the entire pantheon.

Osiris, the Egyptian god of totality.

Ptolemy was also puzzled; according to the positioning, 'Osiris' or 'Zeus' would be better, but the Master was so fixated on the title 'Osiris' that he didn't bother with it.

However, Ptolemy still remembered being summoned in the square in front of the Library of Alexandria underwater—

The purple-haired girl, whose entire body felt saturated with inorganic matter and who was completely devoid of human emotional fluctuations, spoke to the raindrops dripping from the sea surface:

“Isis… I am no longer the bird of the underworld, but have abandoned my duty as the guardian of humanity, serving only as that person’s final memorial.”

Chapter 363 concerns the fact that the object of his secret crush has saintly and Roman royal lineage.

"And then, as expected, you came."

The following day, in the Roman palace located on the Palatine Hill, where expensive tapestries were hung and bronze or gold statues adorned the walls, the current Roman Emperor Nero sat on the central throne, with a huge mural behind him depicting a triumphant scene, symbolizing the emperor's supreme status.

“My teacher told me, ‘Rome exists in human history and will lay the foundation for children from the future.’”

At this point, Nero revealed a sunny smile, "Then as the Emperor of Rome and the Pope of the Church, I should also protect you from Chaldea, right?"

"I see……"

Mashu's conversation with Nero made her understand why, even before they had met, the Roman Emperor Nero had sent people to wait for Chaldea outside Rome. It was because the first Pope, Novia, who mysteriously disappeared in history, told Nero one day that one day, people from the future would arrive, and that he should go and assist them.

Of course, most people would be confused as to why someone from the past would know such things. Could they possibly be able to predict the future?

Mashu readily agreed that the first Pope must have had eyes like clairvoyance, after all, he single-handedly propelled the development of the church, transforming it from a suppressed state into the state religion of the empire, and making it a major organization that could rival the Mage's Association for thousands of years, and a church that still has many members and believers even two thousand years later.

"..."

However, for Ritsuka, who had heard Nero's voice in the hazy bath last night and was now officially meeting him, only one question remained in her mind:

Why does Nero look somewhat like Hibiki's mother?

Ritsuka vaguely remembered the blonde beauty in the coffee shop at the beginning of the year, who was also the wife of Novia's advisor. How to put it, compared to Nero in front of her, it felt like she had grown out of her shell. Her blonde hair had grown longer, her thighs seemed to have grown longer, and even her private parts seemed to be... like an enlarged version in every way. However, there were still some differences, such as her face shape, but upon closer inspection, she felt that they were actually quite similar.

Therefore, Ritsuka suddenly had a bold guess—

Could it be that Xiaoxiang's mother has Roman royal blood?

It's strange, because ever since meeting Hibiki's parents, she feels that the only thing her junior seems to have inherited is her parents' personality; she doesn't seem to have inherited anything like hair color or anything else.

"What's wrong, Ritsuka? Why are you staring at me like that?"

Ritsuka's gaze, fixed intently on Nero, was naturally noticed by the Emperor himself.

"Because Your Majesty Nero, you remind me somewhat of someone I know..."

Ritsuka looked apologetic and said so.